Hold state judging apparatus and computer readable medium

ABSTRACT

In order to accurately determines the hold state of a mobile device possessed by a user while moving, provided is a hold state judging apparatus including an acquiring section that acquires output signals of sensors mounted in a mobile device held by a user; a pattern storage section that stores, in association with each other, information indicating a plurality of hold states of the mobile device and reference characteristic amounts of the output signals of the sensors obtained in advance respectively for the plurality of hold states; a hold state judging section that judges the hold state of the mobile device based on which of the reference characteristic amounts stored in the pattern storage section characteristic amounts of the output signals of the sensors acquired by the acquiring section correspond to. Also provided is a program.

The contents of the following Japanese patent application areincorporated herein by reference:

No. JP2013-033894 filed on Feb. 22, 2013.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a hold state judging apparatus and aprogram.

2. Related Art

Conventionally, when checking the hold state of a mobile device, forexample, the hold state is identified by calculating the fluctuationamount of the average movement or the movement trajectory of the mobiledevice, based on speed information or a geomagnetic vector fluctuationamount detected by a sensor of the mobile device, as shown in PatentDocuments 1 and 2, for example.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No.2010-78492

Patent Document 2: International Publication WO 2010/007765

However, when identifying the mobile device hold state of a pedestrianusing the method described in Patent Document 1, it is only possible todistinguish between broad hold states, specifically between a hold statein which the orientation of the mobile device fluctuates and a holdstate in which the orientation of the mobile device does not fluctuate,and it is difficult to specifically identify the hold state.Furthermore, when identifying the mobile device hold state using themethod described in Patent Document 2, it is difficult to isolate asignal detected in response to movement of the user possessing themobile device from a signal detected in response to fluctuation in thehold state of the mobile device. Accordingly, it is difficult toaccurately identify the hold state of the mobile device during naturalmovement of the user, such as when the user is walking.

SUMMARY

Therefore, it is an object of an aspect of the innovations herein toprovide a hold state judging apparatus and a program, which are capableof overcoming the above drawbacks accompanying the related art. Theabove and other objects can be achieved by combinations described in theclaims. According to a first aspect of the present invention, providedis a hold state judging apparatus including an acquiring section thatacquires output signals of sensors mounted in a mobile device held by auser; a pattern storage section that stores, in association with eachother, information indicating a plurality of hold states of the mobiledevice and reference characteristic amounts of the output signals of thesensors obtained in advance respectively for the plurality of holdstates; a hold state judging section that judges the hold state of themobile device based on which of the reference characteristic amountsstored in the pattern storage section characteristic amounts of theoutput signals of the sensors acquired by the acquiring sectioncorrespond to. Also provided is a program.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, provided is ahold state judging apparatus including an acquiring section thatacquires output signals of sensors mounted in a mobile device and a holdstate judging section that judges a hold state of the mobile devicebased on a relationship between two or more axial direction componentsamong a plurality of axial direction components obtained when the outputsignals of the sensors are separated into the plurality of axialdirection components. Also provided is a program.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, provided is a holdstate judging apparatus including an acquiring section that acquiresoutput signals of sensors mounted in a mobile device and a hold statejudging section that judges a hold state of the mobile device based onthe output signal accompanying the walking of the user. Also provided isa program.

The summary clause does not necessarily describe all necessary featuresof the embodiments of the present invention. The present invention mayalso be a sub-combination of the features described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary configuration of a hold state judgingapparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an operational flow of the hold state judging apparatus 100according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows exemplary output waveforms of the sensors 110 according tothe present embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary modification of the hold state judgingapparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a hardware configuration of a computer 1900according to the present embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, some embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed. The embodiments do not limit the invention according to theclaims, and all the combinations of the features described in theembodiments are not necessarily essential to means provided by aspectsof the invention.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary configuration of a hold state judgingapparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Thehold state judging apparatus 100 performs a judgment of a hold state ofa mobile device and a detection concerning whether a user of the mobiledevice is walking, based on output of a sensor housed in the mobiledevice held by the user, and estimates the hold state of the user whilewalking.

The mobile device has a display function for displaying information anda data processing function for executing programs, for example. The userholds the mobile device and manipulates the mobile device while walkingto execute a function for displaying information, for example. Themobile device is a smartphone, mobile phone, tablet PC (personalcomputer), mobile GPS device, or small-scale PC, for example. The holdstate judging apparatus 100 includes a sensor 110, an acquiring section120, a hold state judging section 130, a walking judging section 140, apattern storage section 150, a change detecting section 160, and a holdstate estimating section 170.

The sensor 110 is mounted in the mobile device. The sensor 110 may beany one of an acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, and ageomagnetic sensor, or may be a combination of these sensors. The sensor110 outputs detection results indicating acceleration, angular velocity,and/or geomagnetism on at least two axes among the x, y, and z axes ofan orthogonal coordinate system in which the mobile device in which thesensor 110 is mounted is the origin. The present embodiment describes anexample in which the surface of the mobile device is in the xy plane,and the z axis is in a direction perpendicular to the xy plane.

The acquiring section 120 acquires an output signal of the sensor 110mounted in the mobile device held by the user. For example, theacquiring section 120 is connected to a plurality of the sensors 110 andacquires output signals corresponding to the movement of the mobiledevice from the sensors 110. When the user walks while possessing themobile device, the acquiring section 120 acquires from the sensor 110the output signal corresponding to the movement of the mobile devicethat accompanies the walking of the user. The acquiring section 120transmits the acquired signal to the hold state judging section 130, thewalking judging section 140, and the change detecting section 160.

The hold state judging section 130 is connected to the acquiring section120 and judges the hold state of the mobile device, based on a periodicchange pattern of the output signal from the sensor 110. When the userwalks while possessing the mobile device, the hold state judging section130 judges the hold state of the mobile device based on the changepattern of the output signal that accompanies the walking of the user.

The description of the present embodiment focuses mainly on a case inwhich the hold state judging apparatus 100 includes a pattern storagesection 150 that stores a plurality of hold states and referencecharacteristic amounts obtained by performing a prescribed computationon the output signals sampled in advance respectively for these holdstates, in association with each other, and the hold state judgingsection 130 judges the hold state of the mobile device based on whichreference characteristic amount stored in the pattern storage section150 the characteristic amount obtained by performing a computation thatis the same type as the prescribed computation on the output signal ofthe sensor 110 acquired by the acquiring section 120 corresponds to.

The hold state judging section 130 includes a calculating section 132and a characteristic amount correspondence judging section 134.

The pattern storage section 150 stores information indicating aplurality of hold states of the mobile device and referencecharacteristic amounts of the output signal of the sensor 110 acquiredin advance for each of the plurality of hold states, in association witheach other. The reference characteristic amounts are characteristicamounts obtained by performing a prescribed computation on the outputsignal of the sensor 110 sampled in advance, and correspond to theplurality of axial direction components included in the output signal.

The pattern storage section 150 stores information indicating acharacteristic of a pattern of the output signal, for each of the holdstates of the mobile device. For example, the pattern storage section150 stores a correspondence relationship between each hold state and areference characteristic amount obtained from the average or thevariance of the axial direction components included in the output signalsampled in advance for each of these hold states. The pattern storagesection 150 stores, as the reference characteristic amounts, first ton-th principal components that are results obtained by performing aprincipal component analysis on the average and the variance of aplurality of axial direction components included in the output signalsampled in advance for each of the hold states.

The calculating section 132 receives the output signal of the sensor 110and calculates the characteristic amount including at least one of theaverage and the variance for at least a portion of the plurality ofaxial direction components included in the output signal. Specifically,the average and the variance of the axial direction components includedin the output signal are weighted with a prescribed weightingcoefficient, and the characteristic amount is calculated as thefirst-order linear combination of these values. The weightingcoefficient used here is preferably a result obtained by performing aprincipal component analysis on at least one of the average and thevariance of a plurality of axial direction components included in theoutput signal sampled in advance for each of the hold states.

The characteristic amount correspondence judging section 134 judges thehold state of the mobile device according to the characteristic amountcalculated by the calculating section 132 and the referencecharacteristic amount stored by the pattern storage section 150. As anexample, the characteristic amount correspondence judging section 134judges the hold state of the mobile device based on which range of aplurality of distribution grouped according to the hold states of themobile device the characteristic amount calculated by the calculatingsection 132 is included in. The characteristic amount correspondencejudging section 134 transmits the judgment results to the hold stateestimating section 170.

The walking judging section 140 is connected to the acquiring section120 and judges a walking state of a user holding the mobile device,according to the output signal of the sensor 110 received from theacquiring section 120. As an example, the walking judging section 140judges whether the user is in the walking state. The walking judgingsection 140 is connected to the hold state judging section 130 andtransmits the judgment results to the hold state judging section 130.

The change detecting section 160 is connected to the acquiring section120 and detects change in the hold state of the mobile device based onthe output signal of the sensor 110 received from the acquiring section120. As an example, the change detecting section 160 detects change inthe hold state of the mobile device in response to a characteristic of apattern of the output signal changing to a different characteristic. Inthis case, the change detecting section 160 may be connected to thepattern storage section 150 and compare the characteristic of a patternread from the pattern storage section 150 to the characteristic of thepattern of the output signal.

The hold state estimating section 170 is connected to the hold statejudging section 130 and estimates the hold state of the mobile device ofthe user by referencing the judgment results of the hold state judgingsection 130 at a plurality of times. Furthermore, the hold stateestimating section 170 is connected to the change detecting section 160and references at least a portion of the judgment results of the holdstate judging section 130 in a period during which the change detectingsection 160 did not detect change in the hold state.

Specifically, in response to a time at which change in the hold statewas detected by the change detecting section 160 being included in theperiod during which the hold state judging section 130 outputs a certainjudgment result, the hold state estimating section 170 does notreference this certain judgment result. Furthermore, in response to atime at which change in the hold state was detected by the changedetecting section 160 not being included in the period during which thehold state judging section 130 outputs a certain judgment result, thehold state estimating section 170 outputs this certain judgment resultas an estimation result.

The hold state estimating section 170 estimates the hold state of themobile device of the user by referencing the judgment results of thehold state judging section 130 at a plurality of times, for example.Furthermore, the hold state estimating section 170 estimates the holdstate of the mobile device of the user based on the output of the changedetecting section 160. For example, the hold state estimating section170 estimates the hold state based on the output signals at times aftera time at which the change detecting section 160 detects change in thehold state of the mobile device. Furthermore, the hold state estimatingsection 170 may estimate the hold state without substantially usinginformation obtained from the output signal at a time before the changedetecting section 160 detects a change in the hold state of the mobiledevice and/or information obtained from the output signal near a time atwhich the change detecting section 160 detects a change in the holdstate of the mobile device.

The hold state judging apparatus 100 according to the present embodimentdescribed above judges one hold state for the mobile device possessed bythe user from among hold states of the mobile device classified in aplurality of predetermined categories. For example, the hold statejudging section 130 includes, in the categories of hold states of themobile device, a state in which the mobile device is held in the hand ofthe user while being manipulated or viewed, a state in which the mobiledevice is held in the hand of the user while the arm of the user isswinging, a state in which the mobile device is in a pocket, and a statein which the mobile device is in a bag. In other words, the hold staterefers to how the user is holding mobile device, i.e. the method ofpossession and the means of possession. In other words, the hold statejudging section 130 judges at least one state from among the categoriesof the hold states of the mobile device.

FIG. 2 shows an operational flow of the hold state judging apparatus 100according to the present invention. The hold state judging apparatus 100judges the hold state of the mobile device possessed by the user byperforming the operational flow shown in FIG. 2.

First, the acquiring section 120 acquires the output signals of aplurality of the sensors 110 (S200). The present embodiment describes anexample in which the plurality of sensors 110 are a total of six sensorsincluding acceleration sensors that detect acceleration in theorthogonal x, y, and z directions and angular velocity sensors thatdetect angular velocity in the x, y, and z directions. FIG. 3 showsexemplary output waveforms of the sensors 110 according to the presentembodiment.

In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis indicates time and the vertical axisindicates the output intensity of each sensor. For example, the first,second, and third waveforms respectively indicate the output intensitiesof the acceleration sensors detecting the acceleration in the x, y, andz directions. Furthermore, the fourth waveform indicates a compositewaveform including the first, second, and third waveforms. The fifth,sixth, and seventh waveforms respectively indicate the outputintensities of the angular velocity sensors detecting the angularvelocity in the x, y, and z directions. The eighth waveform is acomposite waveform including the fifth, sixth, and seventh waveforms.The acquiring section 120 acquires waveforms such as the first, second,third, fifth, sixth, and seventh waveforms from the respective sensors110, and transmits these waveforms to the hold state judging section130, the walking judging section 140, and the change detecting section160.

Next, the walking judging section 140 judges whether the user is walking(S210). For example, the walking judging section 140 judges whether theuser is walking according to whether the output signals from theacceleration sensors fluctuate periodically within a predeterminedrange. When the user is walking with a substantially constant speed,acceleration in the progression direction of the user and accelerationin a direction orthogonal to the progression direction occur atsubstantially constant periods. In this case, acceleration occurs with aperiod and amplitude corresponding to the height, weight, leg length,gait, and walking speed of the user, for example, and the accelerationsensors output an oscillation pattern corresponding to the walking ofthe user by detecting these types of acceleration.

The walking judging section 140 judges whether the user is walkingaccording to a characteristic of a pattern of an output signal, forexample. In this case, the walking judging section 140 is connected tothe pattern storage section 150 and may compare a characteristic of apattern read from the pattern storage section 150 to the characteristicof the pattern of the output signal. In this case, the pattern storagesection 150 may store in advance a pattern of the output signaloccurring when the user is actually walking.

In the example of FIG. 3, the first and second waveforms, which are theoutput waveforms of the acceleration sensors detecting the accelerationin the x-axis direction and the y-axis direction of the mobile device,have output intensities that fluctuate at substantially constant periodsduring the intervals indicated by the first state and the third state.Furthermore, the second and third waveforms, which are the outputwaveforms of the acceleration sensors detecting the acceleration in they-axis direction and the z-axis direction of the mobile device, haveoutput intensities that fluctuate at substantially constant periodsduring the intervals indicated by the second state. The walking judgingsection 140 judges that the user is walking according to the detectionof such fluctuation.

If the walking judging section 140 does not detect fluctuation atsubstantially constant periods such as this (S210: No), the hold statejudging apparatus 100 moves to step S200 and returns to acquiring theoutput signal with the acquiring section 120. If the walking judgingsection 140 judges that the user is walking (S210: Yes), the hold statejudging section 130 judges the hold state of the mobile device (S220).Specifically, the hold state judging section 130 judges the hold stateof the mobile device on a condition that the user is judged to bewalking.

Instead, the hold state judging section 130 may judge the hold state ofthe mobile device in parallel with the judgment operation performed bythe walking judging section 140. In this case, the hold state judgingsection 130 sequentially performs the judgment for a predeterminedinterval of the output signal received from the acquiring section 120,and transmits to the hold state estimating section 170 the judgmentresult at a timing when a judgment result is received indicating thatthe walking judging section 140 judged the user to be walking. In otherwords, the hold state judging section 130 judges the hold state of themobile device based on the output signal at a timing when the user iswalking.

The pattern storage section 150 stores a plurality of hold states andreference characteristic amounts obtained by performing a prescribedcomputation on the output signal accompanying the walking of the usersampled in advance for each of the hold states, in association with eachother.

The reference characteristic amount may be a characteristic amountincluding at least one of the average and the variance for at least aportion of the plurality of axial direction components included in theoutput signal.

As another example, in a case where the plurality of sensors 110 includea first sensor detecting a first physical amount and a second sensordetecting a second physical amount that is of a different type than thefirst physical amount, the reference characteristic amounts may becharacteristic amounts corresponding to at least one axial directioncomponent in the output signal of the first sensor and at least oneaxial direction component in the output signal of the second sensor, forexample. In this way, by using reference characteristic amounts based ona plurality of physical amounts, it is possible to improve the accuracyof the hold state judgment and more specifically judge the hold state.Examples of the first sensor and the second sensor can include angularvelocity sensors, acceleration sensors, geomagnetic sensors, and thelike.

The prescribed computation is not particularly limited as long as it isa computation through which the reference characteristic amountsdescribed above are obtained, and may be a computation that includesweighting the output signals of the plurality of sensors 110 withweighting coefficients obtained as the results of a principal componentanalyses performed on the output signals sampled in advance for each ofthe hold states.

Instead, the pattern storage section 150 may store the plurality of holdstates and a relationship between two or more axial direction componentsfrom among the plurality of axial direction components obtained at atime when the output signal accompanying the direction of the usersampled in advance for each of the hold states is separated into theplurality of axial direction components.

As another example, in a case where the plurality of sensors 110 includea first sensor detecting a first physical amount and a second sensordetecting a second physical amount that is of a different type than thefirst physical amount, the pattern storage section 150 may store therelationship between at least one axial direction component of theoutput signal of the first sensor and at least one axial directioncomponent of the output signal of the second sensor. In this way, byusing a relationship based on a plurality of physical amounts, it ispossible to improve the accuracy of the hold state judgment and morespecifically judge the hold state. Examples of the first sensor and thesecond sensor can include angular velocity sensors, accelerationsensors, geomagnetic sensors, and the like.

The hold state judging section 130 judges the hold state of the mobiledevice based on the output signal of a sensor 110 acquired by theacquiring section 120 and the output of the pattern storage section 150.More specifically, the acquiring section 120 calculates a characteristicamount by performing, on the output signal of the sensor 110 acquired bythe acquiring section 120, a computation that is the same type as theprescribed computation performed by the pattern storage section 150, andjudges the hold state of the mobile device based on which referencecharacteristic amount stored in the pattern storage section 150 thiscalculated characteristic amount corresponds to.

The computation performed by the hold state judging section 130 may be acomputation that includes weighting the output signals of the pluralityof sensors 110 with weighting coefficients obtained as the results of aprincipal component analysis performed on the output signals sampled inadvance for each of the hold states. It should be noted that it is notnecessary to use the exact same coefficient as the weighting coefficientobtained as the result of the principal component analysis, and a slightadjustment coefficient that changes the coefficient by a small amount,for example, may be added to the coefficient.

Instead, the hold state judging section 130 may judge the hold state ofthe mobile device based on the relationship between two or more axialdirection components among the plurality of axial direction componentswhen the output signal of the sensor 110 accompanying the walking of theuser is separated into the plurality of axial direction components.

As another example, in a case where the plurality of sensors 110 includea first sensor detecting a first physical amount and a second sensordetecting a second physical amount that is of a different type than thefirst physical amount, the hold state judging section 130 may judge thehold state of the mobile device based on the relationship between atleast one axial direction component of the output signal of the firstsensor and at least one axial direction component of the output signalof the second sensor. In this way, by using a relationship based on aplurality of physical amounts, it is possible to improve the accuracy ofthe hold state judgment and more specifically judge the hold state.

Examples of the first sensor and the second sensor can include angularvelocity sensors, acceleration sensors, geomagnetic sensors, and thelike. As another example, the hold state judging section 130 judges thecategory of a hold state of the mobile device based on change patternsof the plurality of axial direction components of the output signal.Here, the hold state judging section 130 judges the hold state of themobile device according to the waveform pattern in a predeterminedinterval of the output signal, for example.

For example, the hold state judging section 130 sets the predeterminedinterval Δt to be n times a fluctuation period of the output signal thatis to be detected for the walking of the user, where n is an integergreater than or equal to 1. Instead, the hold state judging section 130may set the interval to be approximately n times an average value ofeach fluctuation period detected for the walking of a plurality ofusers.

The hold state judging section 130 judges the hold state of the mobiledevice based on the relationship between two or more axial directioncomponents from among the plurality of axial direction components ofacceleration and/or angular velocity detected by the sensors 110. Forexample, in the first state of FIG. 3, the hold state judging section130 judges the hold state of the mobile device according to the firstwaveform and second waveform having output intensities that fluctuatewith a substantially constant period, the fluctuation of the thirdwaveform being less than the fluctuation of the first waveform and thesecond waveform, or fluctuation of the fifth, sixth, and seventhwaveforms that are the angular velocity detection results not beingdetected. In this case, the hold state judging section 130 judges thatthe x-axis direction and the y-axis direction of the mobile devicecorresponding to the first waveform and the second waveform aresubstantially parallel to the progression direction of the user and thevertical direction that is the upright direction of the user,respectively, and judges that the user is holding the mobile device upto the ear.

Furthermore, in the second state of FIG. 3, the hold state judgingsection 130 may judge the hold state of the mobile device according tothe second waveform and the third waveform having output intensitiesthat fluctuate at substantially constant intervals, the fluctuation ofthe first waveform being less than the second waveform and the thirdwaveform, or fluctuation of the fifth, sixth, and seventh waveforms notbeing detected. In this case, the hold state judging section 130 judgesthat the y-axis direction and the z-axis direction of the mobile deviceare substantially parallel to the progression direction of the user andthe vertical direction that is the upright direction of the user,respectively, and judge that the user is holding the mobile device inthe hand while viewing the display screen.

In the third state of FIG. 3, the hold state judging section 130 judgesthe hold state of the mobile device according to the first waveform andsecond waveform having output intensities that fluctuate with asubstantially constant period, the fluctuation of the third waveformbeing less than the fluctuation of the first waveform and the secondwaveform, or the seventh waveform having an output intensity thatfluctuates at a substantially constant period. In this case, the holdstate judging section 130 judges that the x-axis direction and they-axis direction of the mobile device are respectively substantiallyparallel to the progression direction of the user and the verticaldirection that is the upright direction of the user and that angularvelocity is being added to the x-axis direction with a constant period,and judges that the user is holding the mobile device in the hand whileswinging the arm.

In this way, the hold state judging section 130 may judge the hold stateof the mobile device based on the change pattern of a plurality ofcomponents that include at least one axial direction component of afirst output signal from the first sensor that detects the firstphysical amount for at least one axial direction and at least one axialdirection component of a second output signal from the second sensorthat detects the second physical amount differing from the firstphysical amount for at least one axial direction. Furthermore, the holdstate judging section 130 may judge the hold state based on thedetection results of three or more types of physical amounts. In thisway, by judging the hold state based on a plurality of physical amounts,the hold state judging section 130 can judge the hold state of a morecomplex mobile device.

The hold state judging section 130 judges the hold state of the mobiledevice according to the patterns of the output signals of the pluralityof sensors 110. Here, the hold state judging section 130 may judge whichof a plurality of hold states an output signal corresponds to, based oninformation stored in the pattern storage section 150. In this case, forexample, the pattern storage section 150 stores the patterns of outputsignals corresponding to hold states of the mobile device, and the holdstate judging section 130 compares the pattern of the output signal tothe stored patterns and, in response to finding a matching pattern, setsthe corresponding hold state as the judgment result. In this way, it ispossible to judge various hold states.

Instead, the hold state judging section 130 may judge the hold state ofthe mobile device based on which reference characteristic amount storedin the pattern storage section 150 the characteristic amount acquiredfrom the output signal corresponds to. Specifically, the pattern storagesection 150 stores a result obtained by performing a principal componentanalysis on an average value, variance, fluctuation amplitude, or periodof the output signal corresponding to the hold state of the mobiledevice as a reference characteristic amount, for example. In this case,the characteristic amount correspondence judging section 134 comparesthe characteristic amount calculated by the calculating section 132 tothe reference characteristic amounts of the stored patterns and, inresponse to the characteristic amount matching a referencecharacteristic amount within a predetermined range, sets thecorresponding hold state as the judgment result. At predeterminedintervals Δt, the characteristic amount correspondence judging section134 judges the hold state of the mobile device and transmits thejudgment result to the hold state estimating section 170.

The output signal from a sensor that accompanies walking movement of theuser is significantly different for each hold state of the mobiledevice. Using this fact, the hold state judging section 130 may judgethe hold state of the mobile device based on the output signal at atiming during walking of the user, from among the output signals of thesensors 110 acquired by the acquiring section 120, or may judge the holdstate of the mobile device without substantially using the outputsignals at timing when the user is not walking, from among the outputsignals of the sensors 110 acquired by the acquiring section 120.

By using an output signal of a sensor during walking of the user, it ispossible to improve the accuracy of the hold state judgment and to morespecifically judge the hold state. Here, the phrase “withoutsubstantially using the output signals at timing when the user is notwalking” includes, in addition to a case of not using output signals ata timing when the user is not walking, a case of using these outputsignals while significantly reducing the effect and impact of theseoutput signals.

Next, the hold state estimating section 170 sequentially receives thedetection results of the change detecting section 160 and, for eachjudgment result of the hold state judging section 130, checks whether achange in the hold state has been detected during the interval Δt duringwhich the judgment was made (S230). If a change in the hold state hasbeen detected during the judgment interval Δt (S230: Yes), the holdstate estimating section 170 does not output the judgment resultreceived from the hold state judging section 130, and the hold statejudging apparatus 100 moves to step S200 and returns to acquiring theoutput signal using the acquiring section 120.

If a change in the hold state has not been detected during the judgmentinterval Δt (S230: No), the hold state estimating section 170 outputsthe judgment result received from the hold state judging section 130 asthe estimation result of the hold state (S240). In other words, if thehold state of the mobile device has changed, the hold state estimatingsection 170 deletes the judgment result based on the output signaloutput around or at the time of the change of the hold state. In thisway, the hold state estimating section 170 can delete incorrect judgmentresults of the hold state judging section 130 generated in response to achange in the hold state.

As an example, the change detecting section 160 detects a change in thehold state of the mobile device in response to the output signal of asensor 110 being skewed from the periodic change pattern. For example,in FIG. 3, the change detecting section 160 detects that the hold statehas changed in response to receiving the output signal for the intervalduring which the change from the first state to the second state occurs.Furthermore, the change detecting section 160 detects that the holdstate has changed in response to receiving the output signal for theinterval during which the change from the second state to the thirdstate occurs. The change detecting section 160 detects the change of thehold state of the mobile device based on the output signal from anacceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, and/or a geomagneticsensor, for example.

In this way, the change detecting section 160 detects the change of thehold state of the mobile device independently from the judgment made bythe hold state judging section 130. The change detecting section 160detects whether the hold state has changed, and therefore it is possibleto perform the detection in a time that is shorter than the intervalduring which the hold state is specifically judged.

Accordingly, the hold state estimating section 170 can estimate thejudgment result of the mobile device during a judgment interval Δtaccording to whether one or more changes in the hold state have beendetected among two or more detection results of the change of the holdstate received during this judgment interval. In other words, the holdstate estimating section 170 can judge the possibility of an incorrectjudgment by the hold state judging section 130, due to the detectionresult of the change of the hold state having a higher time resolutionthan the hold state judgment interval, and can therefore accuratelyremove incorrect judgment results.

The hold state judging apparatus 100 outputs the estimation result ofthe hold state judging section 130 as the judgment result. With the holdstate judging apparatus 100 according to the present embodimentdescribed above, change of the pattern of an output signal caused bywalking of the user is detected in a plurality of axial directioncomponents caused by the hold state of the mobile device, and the holdstate of the mobile device is judged. Accordingly, it is possible toisolate the signal detected in response to movement of the userpossessing the mobile device from the signal detected according tofluctuation of the hold state of the mobile device.

The hold state judging apparatus 100 detects the change of the patternof an output signal having a plurality of axial direction componentsand/or change of the pattern of an output signal having a plurality ofaxial direction components relative to a plurality of physical amounts,and can therefore accurately judge a variety of hold states of themobile device. The hold state judging apparatus 100 does not output thejudgment results if the user is not walking or if the hold state ischanged, and can therefore eliminate incorrect judgment results for thehold state.

The above describes an example in which the hold state judging apparatus100 according to the present embodiment sequentially performs theacquisition of the sensor output, the judgment of the walking state ofthe user, the judgment of the hold state of the mobile device, thedetection of the change of the hold state of the mobile device, and thelike according to the flow shown in FIG. 2. Instead, the hold statejudging apparatus 100 may perform these operations in parallel in unitsof the predetermined interval Δt, and the hold state judging section 130may output the judgment results continuously at every interval Δt.

The hold state judging section 130 may, at each of the plurality ofcontinuous intervals Δt, judge hold state candidates of the mobiledevice based on the output signals of the sensors 110 and select thehold state candidate that occurs most among the hold state candidates inthe plurality of intervals Δt to be the hold state of the mobile device.In this way, the hold state judging section 130 can more accuratelyjudge the hold state of the mobile device.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary modification of the hold state judgingapparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. In the hold statejudging apparatus 400 according to the present modification, componentsthat perform substantially the same operation as components in the holdstate judging apparatus 100 of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1are given the same reference numerals, and descriptions thereof areomitted. The hold state judging apparatus 400 according to the presentmodification outputs change in position caused by walking of the user,based on the judgment results of the hold state judging apparatus 100shown in FIG. 1. The hold state judging apparatus 400 further includes aplurality of positional change detecting sections 410 and a selectingsection 420.

The change detecting section 160 transmits the detection results to thehold state judging section 130 as well as the hold state estimatingsection 170. In this case, the hold state judging section 130 judges thehold state of the mobile device of the user based on the output of thechange detecting section 160. For example, the hold state judgingsection 130 judges the hold state based on the output signals after thetime at which the change detecting section 160 detects a change in thehold state of the mobile device. Furthermore, the hold state judgingsection 130 may judge the hold state without substantially usinginformation obtained from the output signals prior to the time at whichthe change detecting section 160 detects a change in the hold state ofthe mobile device and/or information obtained from the output signalsnear the time at which the change detecting section 160 detects a changein the hold state of the mobile device.

As an example, the hold state judging sections 130 include a first holdstate judging section that judges the hold state of the mobile device ofthe user by performing a prescribed computation on the output signal ofa sensor 110, a second hold state judging section that judges the holdstate of the mobile device of the user by performing a computation thatis different from the prescribed computation on the output signal of asensor 110, and a hold state judgment selecting section that selectswhich hold state judging section result is to be substantially used fromamong the first hold state judging section and the second hold statejudging section based on the output of the change detecting section 160.In this case, the sensors include an angular velocity sensor and ageomagnetic sensor, the first hold state judging section judges the holdstate of the mobile device of the user based on the output signal of theangular velocity sensor, and the second hold state judging sectionjudges the hold state of the mobile device of the user based on theoutput signal of the geomagnetic sensor.

The change detecting section 160 detects a change in the hold state in ashorter time than the time needed for the hold state judging section 130to judge the hold state of the mobile device.

Each positional change detecting section 410 receives the output fromthe acquiring section 120 and the hold state estimating section 170 anddetects positional change of the user according to a respective holdstate of the mobile device. For example, one positional change detectingsection 410 among the plurality of positional change detecting sections410 is provided corresponding to the hold state in which the user holdsthe mobile device in the hand and manipulates or views the mobiledevice, and this one positional change detecting section 410 detectsposition change of the user for this hold state.

If the user moves while holding the mobile device in the hand, thesubstantially constant period of the output signal of the sensor 110corresponds to the movement resulting from the walking of the user.Specifically, the position of the user changes by a distancecorresponding to the step length of the user, in response to the outputsignal fluctuation for one period. Accordingly, this one positionalchange detecting section 410 outputs a positional change of the usercorresponding to the step length of the user and the fluctuation of theoutput signal.

This one positional change detecting section 410 may use the outputsignal of the sensor that detects the angular velocity parallel to themovement direction of the user, or may instead use the output signal ofthe sensor that detects the angular velocity in the vertical directionof the user. Furthermore, information concerning the step length and thelike of the user may be stored in the pattern storage section 150 inadvance, and in this case, the positional change detecting section 410may be connected to the pattern storage section 150 and read theinformation concerning the stop length and the like of the user.

In the same manner, the positional change detecting sections 410 areprovided to respectively correspond to hold states such as a hold statein which the mobile device is held in the hand while the arm isswinging, the hold state in which the mobile device is in the pocket,and the hold state in which the mobile device is in a bag, and detectthe positional change of the user in the respective hold states. In thisway, according to the hold state of the user, even when there is achange in the substantially constant fluctuation period of an outputsignal caused by walking, it is possible to detect the positional changeof the user corresponding to this change in each hold state.

The selecting section 420 is connected to the change detecting section160 and selects one positional change detecting section 410 from amongthe plurality of positional change detecting sections 410 according tothe output of the change detecting section 160. Specifically, sincethere is a high possibility of error for a hold state judgment resultobtained during a change of the hold state, when the change detectingsection 160 detects a change in the hold state, the selecting section420 selects a positional change detecting section 410 that detects thepositional change using a method that is not significantly affected bythe hold state or that detects the positional change without using theestimation result of the hold state.

In this way, the positional change of the user can be correctlydetected.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a hardware configuration of a computer 1900according to the present embodiment. The computer 1900 according to thepresent embodiment is mounted in the mobile device, for example.Instead, the computer 1900 may be provided outside the mobile device,receive output from a sensor of the mobile device, and transmit ajudgment result and/or positional change to the mobile device. In thiscase, the computer 1900 may communicate wirelessly with the mobiledevice, for example.

The computer 1900 is provided with a CPU peripheral including a CPU2000, a RAM 2020, a graphic controller 2075, and a display apparatus2080, all of which are connected to each other by a host controller 208;a communication interface 2030, a storage section 2040, and aninput/output section 2060, all of which are connected to the hostcontroller 2082 by an input/output controller 2084; a ROM 2010; a cardslot 2050; and an input/output chip 2070.

The host controller 2082 is connected to the RAM 2020 and is alsoconnected to the CPU 2000 and graphic controller 2075 accessing the RAM2020 at a high transfer rate. The CPU 2000 operates to control eachsection based on programs stored in the ROM 2010 and the RAM 2020. Thegraphic controller 2075 acquires image data generated by the CPU 2000 orthe like on a frame buffer disposed inside the RAM 2020 and displays theimage data in the display apparatus 2080. Instead, the graphiccontroller 2075 may internally include the frame buffer storing theimage data generated by the CPU 2000 or the like.

The input/output controller 2084 connects the communication interface2030 serving as a relatively high speed input/output apparatus, and thestorage section 2040, and the Input/output section 2060 to the hostcontroller 2082. The communication interface 2030 communicates withother apparatuses via a network. The storage section 2040 stores theprograms and data used by the CPU 2000 housed in the computer 1900. Thestorage section 2040 is a non-volatile memory and may be a flash memoryor hard disk, for example.

The Input/output section 2060 is connected to the connector 2095, sendsand receives programs or data to and from the outside, and provides theprograms or data to the storage section 2040 via the RAM 2020. Theinput/output section 2060 may communicate with the outside using astandardized connector and communication method, and in this case theinput/output section 2060 may use a standard such as USB, IEEE 1394,HDMI (Registered Trademark), or Thunderbolt (Registered Trademark). Theinput/output section 2060 may communicate with the outside used awireless communication standard such as Bluetooth (RegisteredTrademark).

Furthermore, the input/output controller 2084 is connected to the ROM2010, and is also connected to the card slot 2050 and the input/outputchip 2070 serving as a relatively high speed input/output apparatus. TheROM 2010 stores a boot program performed when the computer 1900 startsup, a program relying on the hardware of the computer 1900, and thelike. The card slot 2050 reads programs or data from a memory card 2090and supplies the read information to the storage section 2040 via theRAM 2020. The input/output chip 2070 connects the card slot 2050 to theinput/output controller 2084 along with each of the input/outputapparatuses via, a parallel port, a serial port, a keyboard port, amouse port, or the like.

The programs provided to the storage section 2040 via the RAM 2020 areprovided by a user through the input/output section 2060 or by beingstored in a storage medium, such as the memory card 2090. The programsare read from storage medium, installed in the storage section 2040inside the computer 1900 via the RAM 2020, and performed by the CPU2000.

The programs are installed in the computer 1900 and cause the computer1900 to function as the acquiring section 120, the hold state judgingsection 130, the walking judging section 140, the pattern storagesection 150, the change detecting section 160, and the hold stateestimating section 170. In addition, the programs may cause the computer1900 to function as the positional change detecting sections 410 and theselecting section 420.

The information processes recorded in the programs are read by thecomputer 1900 to cause the computer 1900 to function as software andhardware described above, which are exemplified by the specific sectionsof the acquiring section 120, the hold state judging section 130, thewalking judging section 140, the pattern storage section 150, the changedetecting section 160, the hold state estimating section 170, thepositional change detecting sections 410, and the selecting section 420.With these specific sections, a unique hold state judging apparatus 100or hold state judging apparatus 400 suitable for an intended use can beconfigured by realizing the calculations or computations appropriate forthe intended use of the computer 1900 of the present embodiment.

For example, if there is communication between the computer 1900 and anexternal apparatus or the like, the CPU 2000 performs the communicationprogram loaded in the RAM 2020, and provides the communication interface2030 with communication processing instructions based on the content ofthe process recorded in the communication program. The communicationinterface 2030 is controlled by the CPU 2000 to read the transmissiondata stored in the RAM 2020, the storage section 2040, the memory card2090, or a transmission buffer region provided to a storage apparatus orthe like connected via the input/output section 2060, and send thistransmission data to the network, and to write data received from thenetwork onto a reception buffer area on the storage apparatus. In thisway, the communication interface 2030 may transmit data to and from thestorage apparatus through DMA (Direct Memory Access). As anotherpossibility, the CPU 2000 may transmit the data by reading the data fromthe storage apparatus or communication interface 2030 that are theorigins of the transmitted data, and writing the data onto thecommunication interface 2030 or the storage apparatus that are thetransmission destinations.

The CPU 2000 may perform various processes on the data in the RAM 2020by reading into the RAM 2020, through DMA transmission or the like, allor a necessary portion of the database or files stored in the externalapparatus such as the storage section 2040, the input/output section2060, or the memory card 2090. The CPU 2000 writes the processed databack to the external apparatus through DMA transmission or the like. Inthis process, the RAM 2020 is considered to be a section thattemporarily stores the content of the external storage apparatus, andtherefore the RAM 2020, the external apparatus, and the like in thepresent embodiment are referred to as a memory, a storage section, and astorage apparatus. The variety of information in the present embodiment,such as the variety of programs, data, tables, databases, and the likeare stored on the storage apparatus to become the target of theinformation processing. The CPU 2000 can hold a portion of the RAM 2020in a cache memory and read from or write to the cache memory. With sucha configuration as well, the cache memory serves part of the function ofthe RAM 2020, and therefore the cache memory is also included with theRAM 2020, the memory, and/or the storage apparatus in the presentinvention, except when a distinction is made.

The CPU 2000 executes the various processes such as the computation,information processing, condition judgment, searching for/replacinginformation, and the like included in the present embodiment for thedata read from the RAM 2020, as designated by the command sequence ofthe program, and writes the result back onto the RAM 2020. For example,when performing condition judgment, the CPU 2000 judges whether avariable of any type shown in the present embodiment fulfills acondition of being greater than, less than, no greater than, no lessthan, or equal to another variable or constant. If the condition isfulfilled, or unfulfilled, depending on the circumstances, the CPU 2000branches into a different command sequence or acquires a subroutine.

The CPU 2000 can search for information stored in a file in the storageapparatus, the database, and the like. For example, if a plurality ofentries associated respectively with a first type of value and a secondtype of value are stored in the storage apparatus, the CPU 2000 cansearch for entries fulfilling a condition designated by the first typeof value from among the plurality of entries stored in the storageapparatus. The CPU 2000 can then obtain the second type of valueassociated with the first type of value fulfilling the prescribedcondition by reading the second type of value stored at the same entry.

The programs and modules shown above may also be stored in an externalstorage medium. The memory card 2090, an optical storage medium such asa DVD, Blu-ray (Registered Trademark), or CD, a magneto-optical storagemedium, a tape medium, a semiconductor memory such as an IC card, or thelike can be used as the storage medium. Furthermore, a storage apparatussuch as a hard disk or RAM that is provided with a server systemconnected to the Internet or a specialized communication network may beused to provide the programs to the computer 1900 via the network.

While the embodiments of the present invention have been described, thetechnical scope of the invention is not limited to the above describedembodiments. It is apparent to persons skilled in the art that variousalterations and improvements can be added to the above-describedembodiments. It is also apparent from the scope of the claims that theembodiments added with such alterations or improvements can be includedin the technical scope of the invention.

The operations, procedures, steps, and stages of each process performedby an apparatus, system, program, and method shown in the claims,embodiments, or diagrams can be performed in any order as long as theorder is not indicated by “prior to,” “before,” or the like and as longas the output from a previous process is not used in a later process.Even if the process flow is described using phrases such as “first” or“next” in the claims, embodiments, or diagrams, it does not necessarilymean that the process must be performed in this order.

What is claimed is:
 1. A hold state judging apparatus comprising: anacquiring section that acquires output signals of an angular velocitysensor and an acceleration sensor mounted in a mobile device held by auser; a pattern storage section that stores, in association with eachother, information indicating a plurality of hold states of the mobiledevice and reference characteristic amounts of the output signals of theangular velocity sensor and the acceleration sensor obtained in advancerespectively for the plurality of hold states; a hold state judgingsection that judges the hold state of the mobile device based on whichof the reference characteristic amounts stored in the pattern storagesection characteristic amounts of the output signals of the angularvelocity sensor and the acceleration sensor acquired by the acquiringsection correspond to; a plurality of positional change detectingsections that are provided to correspond respectively to the pluralityof hold states of the mobile device and each detect positional change ofthe user; and a selecting section that selects, as the positional changeof the user, the positional change output by the positional changedetecting section corresponding to the hold state judged by the holdstate judging section from among the hold states of the mobile device,wherein at least one positional change detecting section among theplurality of positional change detecting sections outputs the positionalchange of the user corresponding to a step length of the user andfluctuation of the output signals of the angular velocity sensor and theacceleration sensor.
 2. The hold state judging apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the reference characteristic amounts are characteristicamounts that are obtained by performing a prescribed computation on theoutput signals of the angular velocity sensor and the accelerationsensor sampled in advance and correspond to a plurality of axialdirection components included in the output signals, and the hold statejudging section judges the hold state of the mobile device based onwhich of the reference characteristic amounts the characteristic amountsobtained by performing a computation that is the same type as theprescribed computation on the output signals of the angular velocitysensor and the acceleration sensor acquired by the acquiring sectioncorrespond to.
 3. The hold state judging apparatus according to claim 2,wherein the reference characteristic amounts are characteristic amountsthat include at least one of an average and a variance for at least aportion of the plurality of axial direction components included in theoutput signals sampled in advance.
 4. The hold state judging apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein the reference characteristic amounts arereference amounts acquired as results obtained by performing a principalcomponent analysis on the output signals sampled in advance, and theprescribed computation is a computation of weighting the output signalsof the angular velocity sensor and the acceleration sensor acquired bythe acquiring section with a weighting coefficient acquired as a resultof the principal component analysis.
 5. The hold state judging apparatusaccording to claim 4, wherein the reference characteristic amounts arecharacteristic amounts corresponding to at least one axial directioncomponent in the output signal of the angular velocity sensor and atleast one axial direction component in the output signal of theacceleration sensor.
 6. The hold state judging apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the reference characteristic amounts are characteristicamounts obtained from the output signals corresponding to movement ofthe mobile device.
 7. The hold state judging apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the reference characteristic amounts are characteristicamounts obtained from the output signals while the user is walking.
 8. Ahold state judging apparatus comprising: an acquiring section thatacquires output signals of an angular velocity sensor and anacceleration sensor mounted in a mobile device held by a user; a holdstate judging section that judges a hold state of the mobile devicebased on a relationship between two or more axial direction componentsamong a plurality of axial direction components obtained when the outputsignals of the angular velocity sensor and the acceleration sensor areseparated into the plurality of axial direction components; a pluralityof positional change detecting sections that are provided to correspondrespectively to the plurality of hold states of the mobile device andeach detect positional change of the user; and a selecting section thatselects, as the positional change of the user, the positional changeoutput by the positional change detecting section corresponding to thehold state judged by the hold state judging section from among the holdstates of the mobile device, wherein at least one positional changedetecting section among the plurality of positional change detectingsections outputs the positional change of the user corresponding to astep length of the user and fluctuation of the output signals of theangular velocity sensor and the acceleration sensor.
 9. The hold statejudging apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the hold state judgingsection judges the hold state of the mobile device based on therelationship between two or more axial direction components among aplurality of axial direction components obtained when the output signalsof the angular velocity sensor and the acceleration sensor accompanyingwalking of the user are separated into the plurality of axial directioncomponents.
 10. The hold state judging apparatus according to claim 9,wherein the hold state judging section judges the hold state of themobile device based on a relationship between at least one axialdirection component of the output signal of the angular velocity sensorand at least one axial direction component of the output signal of theacceleration sensor.
 11. The hold state judging apparatus according toclaim 8, wherein the hold state judging section judges the hold state ofthe mobile device based on a relationship between a change pattern ofone axial direction component among the plurality of axial directioncomponents and a change pattern of another axial direction componentthat is different from the one axial direction component.
 12. The holdstate judging apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the changepattern is a periodic change pattern occurring in conjunction withwalking of the user.
 13. The hold state judging apparatus according toclaim 8, further comprising: a pattern storage section that stores aplurality of hold states and a relationship between two or more axialdirection components among a plurality of axial direction componentsobtained when output signals sampled in advance for each of theplurality of hold states are separated into the plurality of axialdirection components, wherein the hold state judging section judges thehold state of the mobile device based on the output signals of theangular velocity sensor and the acceleration sensor acquired by theacquiring section and the output of the pattern storage section.
 14. Thehold state judging apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the patternstorage section stores a relationship between two or more axialdirection components among a plurality of axial direction componentsobtained when output signals accompanying walking of the user that aresampled in advance for each of the plurality of hold states areseparated into the plurality of axial direction components.
 15. The holdstate judging apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the patternstorage section stores each hold state and a relationship between atleast one axial direction component of the output signal of the angularvelocity sensor sampled in advance for each hold state and at least oneaxial direction component of the output signal of the accelerationsensor.
 16. A hold state judging apparatus comprising: an acquiringsection that acquires output signals of an angular velocity sensor andan acceleration sensor mounted in a mobile device held by a user; a holdstate judging section that judges a hold state of the mobile devicebased on the output signals accompanying walking of the user; aplurality of positional change detecting sections that are provided tocorrespond respectively to the plurality of hold states of the mobiledevice and each detect positional change of the user; and a selectingsection that selects, as the positional change of the user, thepositional change output by the positional change detecting sectioncorresponding to the hold state judged by the hold state judging sectionfrom among the hold states of the mobile device, wherein at least onepositional change detecting section among the plurality of positionalchange detecting sections outputs the positional change of the usercorresponding to a step length of the user and fluctuation of the outputsignals of the angular velocity sensor and the acceleration sensor. 17.The hold state judging apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a walking judging section that judges a walking state of theuser holding the mobile device.
 18. The hold state judging apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the hold state judging section judges thehold state of the mobile device on a condition that the user is judgedto be walking.
 19. The hold state judging apparatus according to claim1, wherein the hold state judging section judges the hold state of themobile device based on the output signals at a timing when the user iswalking, from among the output signals of the angular velocity sensorand the acceleration sensor acquired by the acquiring section.
 20. Thehold state judging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holdstate judging section judges the hold state of the mobile device withoutsubstantially using the output signals at a timing when the user is notwalking, from among the output signals of the angular velocity sensorand the acceleration sensor acquired by the acquiring section.
 21. Thehold state judging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holdstate judging section judges the hold state of the mobile device to beat least one state from among a state in which the mobile device is heldin a hand of the user while the user manipulates or views the mobiledevice, a state in which the mobile device is held in the hand while theuser swings an arm, a state in which the mobile device is in a pocket,and a state in which the mobile device is in a bag.
 22. The hold statejudging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hold state judgingsection: for each of a plurality of continuous intervals, judgescandidates for the hold state of the mobile device based on the outputsignals, and selects, as the hold state of the mobile device, the holdstate candidate that occurs most from among the hold state candidates inthe plurality of intervals.
 23. The hold state judging apparatusaccording to claim 1, further comprising: a hold state estimatingsection that estimates the hold state of the mobile device of the userby referencing the judgment results of the hold state judging section ata plurality of times.
 24. The hold state judging apparatus according toclaim 23, further comprising: a change detecting section that detects achange in the hold state of the mobile device, wherein the hold stateestimating section references at least a portion of the judgment resultsof the hold state judging section during an interval in which the changedetecting section did not detect a change in the hold state.
 25. Thehold state judging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: achange detecting section that detects a change in the hold state of themobile device.
 26. A non-transitory computer readable medium storingthereon a program that causes a computer to function as the hold statejudging apparatus according to claim 1.